I recently wrote about how IBM's Watson, which beat its human competitors on the game show Jeopardy, was written mostly in Java. Some of it was written C++, which led to an interesting, passive-aggressive comment that C++ must have been used for the critical pieces. I object to that.

While I focus mainly on Java these days, I have deep respect for both languages. I was a C/C++ developer for a long time before I moved to Java, and it helped make me a better developer. But Java has treated me just as well in subsequent years, so here we are.

Having been on both sides of the fence, I can say that neither C++ nor Java are better suited than the other for writing critical software. This I say with experience, both personal and through the hundreds of clients I've had the opportunity to work with over the years. I can say without a doubt Java is being used to solve some of the toughest software problems in the world, handling trillions of dollars in transactions per day with predictable and low latency, managing power systems, critical medical equipment, space monitoring systems, the list goes on. So is C++.

Performance? Don't go there. With today's JIT compilers, Java code gets compiled to machine code just as C++ does, albeit at runtime. However, this leads to Java's advantage at times, since it can also be optimized and reoptimized while an application runs, self-tuning itself in ways statically compiled applications cannot.

Latency? Real-time Java brings it in line with C++ applications. I would argue that writing low-latency code is more a factor of programmer knowledge and skill than it is the language chosen. Garbage collection? Now you're dating yourself because so much excellent research and development has been going on since the days LISP was invented that GC technology is as good as C++ memory management. Don't forget, the C-runtime has to manage the heap as well.

So instead of debating it, accept that both C++ and Java are excellent languages, in a world full of excellent languages where many can be used to develop critical applications.